Day 52 December 22, 2011 Passage from Hollywood, FL to Sands Key Anchorage
We left Hollywood City Marina about 9:00AM and headed south. I forgot to take on water. We still had not been able to get a pumpout. So, we decided to stop at Palm Bay Club Marina as they had very good fuel prices. Well we had a nice stop but did not get the fuel deal as they really do not have a fuel pump. They call a fuel truck when there are enough boats needing fuel. But the dock mistress was very nice and we took on water and got the holding tank pumped for $5.00. I gave her a $5.00 tip for going through all the trouble. They hook up a suction hose to whatever slip a boat is in that needs the tank pumped. But what was more fun was we once again met up with the 38' Hans Christian sailboat hull #1 "MUSIC" OUT OF LA. NO, no no THE GUY IS NOT STEPHEN STILLS. His name is "STEVE MARTIN" Yes someone famous owns the boat. He and his wife Eva and Susan and I had a nice talk while I was getting pumped out and taking on water. OK OK OK the guys name "is" Steve Martin, but it was not the really famous guy. This Steve Martin has been sailing the world for 13 years and his wife 7 years. The boat had been in our marina in Deltaville a few slips down from ours. I never met his then, only on our trip...
So the rest of the trip through downtown Miami was spectacular. The skyline was still visible after traveling a few hours to our anchorage at Sands Keys. About 2:45 I was alarmed as all of a sudden I noticed I could see the bottom! Not used to being able to see the bottom in 12' of water. We anchored about 4:30 and were the only boat anchored there. It always makes us feel a little odd when no one else joins an anchorage. Kind of like they know something we don't and avoid the spot. It was very beautiful letting the anchor down and actuating seeing it on the bottom in 12' of water.. Of course the wind continued to blow over 15knots by my wind speed gauge. Wasn't sure I was going to be able to sleep. But my computer checks our position every minute. And after scanning down the list and not seeing the Lat / Long no changing for hours you must assume the anchor is going to continue to hold and go to sleep. And as you all know I set "THREE" Anchor alarms. So, somewhere while Dave Letterman's show I fell asleep and woke long enough to crawl into the bed. "ALARM" ALARM ALARM. I just into sort of a wake state to see how bad the anchor is dragging. Yep it waits for you to go to asleep to drag. Well only 1 of the THREE alarms went off. When I got focused the alarm was an alarm telling you that the GPS signal is unreliable Not that the anchor was dragging , but the software wouldn't know know if it did. I moved my iPhone for a clearer view of the sky for a more reliable GPS input. The anchor watch once again got quiet and I went back asleep for about 15 minutes and again that thing went off. I changed the sensitivity of the GPS and went back to bed and nothing else bothered me and the wind calmed down to about 5-10 knots. So, we awoke to very peaceful morning with some bird sounds on shore. Breakfast and the normal engine room check routine, weighed anchor and we were off for Islamorada.
My picture today is of the City of OZ on the horizon. Actually it's a long shot looking north at Miami. Just reminds me of the movie.